Until death do us part
by chagchat
Summary: Read about Lily and James through their seventh year until their tragic death. This is my first story so I hope you enjoy! And review! read everything! READ&REVIEW is what I always say...
1. The train to Hogwarts

The Train to Hogwarts

The Evans family was in a hurry. Lily, their daughter (who happened to be a witch), needed to get to platform nine and three quarters fast, or Lily would be late. Petunia, Lily's sister, was very glad to get rid of the freak (or so she called Lily behind her parents back). Petunia despised wizardry almost the same way some witches and wizards hated muggles, so you could just imagine how happy she was going to be when Lily left for another year.

"Bye" she said unenthusiastically (she was ready for Lily to go already but her parents forces her to part politely) as Lily left with her mom. Lily said bye back and ran towards the car.

When they got to the station Lily gave her mom, Rosalyn a big hug, ran to the platform and heard her mom yell "Bye! We love you!".

Lily got onto the train into her usual compartment and hummed happily waiting for her friends to join. The door to the compartment opened—

"Hi!" said Bertha Dungbloom, Lily's best friend,

"I can't wait to show you my new dress robes! I'll show you when we get to our room!"

"Not before I show everyone my new shoes!" said Hettie Grulick, who came in right after Bertha.

"Oh! I completely forgot!" Said Lily, "I need to go to the Head Boy and Girl compartment to give the prefects instructions! I'll be back soon enough."

Lily gave each one a huge hug and ran to the compartment.

Huffing and puffing she sat down to catch her breath when a very unpleasant surprise walked in. This was James Potter, one of the handsome (and immature) students at Hogwarts.

"Hi" the young man with very black and untidy hair said "guess what? I'm Head Boy!"

"WHAT!" said Lily rather loudly "WHO in their right mind would make YOU Head Boy"

James decided to ignore her comment and started giving the prefects, who were rather taken aback by her outburst, instructions.

Lily, who got over her shock, realized she would have to patrol at night with him and decided to look at the bright side '_at least it's not Snape' _she thought glumlyLily wasn't comforted much but she knew she'd have to get used to the idea anyway.

After they were done giving the prefects orders Lily went to her compartment to find that James' friends were there.

His friends were Remus Lupin, a slightly shabby looking young man, Sirius black, a very handsome kid (I say kid—he acted like a three year old at times) and Peter Pettigrew a small and nervous student.

James walked in right after Lily "can I sit here?" He said.

Lily started saying no—she thought Potter was a show off with an ego the size of the universe—when Bertha gave her a look and said—

"Sure, come in" making sure there was enough space for him to sit next to her. James, who noticed this, chose to sit next to Lily anyway, who was trying to take as much space as possible.

"Afraid I'd sit here?" he said with amusement,

"No actually, more like dreading" Lily answered quite rudely and chose to stare at the window.

"So" said Hettie trying to make conversation "how was everyone's summer?"

Bertha started telling in great detail how she bought her dress robes which cost one hundred galleons and five sickles.

This wasn't very interesting so Hettie interrupted her "how was your summer Sirius?"

Hettie was quite fond (more like sickengly in-love with) Sirius though he didn't seem quite that interested in her.

"Oh, I don't know, ask James, I'm sure he'd like to tell you" he said nudging James in the ribs. James was a bit too busy staring at Lily's long red hair.

"What?" he said as though waking from a dream (which probably included him, Lily, and kissing). "Tell them about our summer" said Sirius bemused.

This was pretty much how the trip to Hogwarts continued until the food trolley came.

"We'll be back in one sec" said James, a mischievous smile on his face "come on you three" he gestured towards the three other males in the compartment.

When only Lily, Hettie and Bertha were left in the compartment Hettie squealed "Oh my god!" she said, "Lily, that Potter really likes you! Why don't you just go OUT with him already?"

"Because I think he's a show off" answered Lily quite simply. Hettie opened her mouth to answer when the door to the compartment opened and chocolate frogs were thrown at Lily.

"Thought you might like some" said James in a way that almost made Lily barf "I can buy some myself" Lily snapped and went out of the compartment muttering angrily,

"Who does he think he is!"

"What did I do wrong?" James said so only Sirius and Remus could hear (Peter was too frightened by the girls, who were giggling uncontrollably, to pay attention). "I'm not sure she likes you very much" said Lupin "yeah" said Sirius "I guess your _wonderful_ lady skills just didn't work this time. Come to think of it, they didn't work last time or—anytime at all". James shoved Sirius, who bumped into Lupin, "hey!" they said together, and got into a shoving contest which got the boys on the floor and the girls rolling there eyes.

Meanwhile it was getting darker and everyone had to change into their robes. "Just don't peek on Evans while your at it" said Sirius to James while James was getting out to change. "You don't think I'd do such a thing do you?" said James with an innocent look although he _was _planning on finding Lily. He went out fast to look for her.

Lily, meanwhile, was in a compartment with fellow Ravenclaw students thinking hard. She knew very well that James had liked her for a long time but she didn't know why she rejected him so much. '_Well, I'll have to think about it later_', she thought and went to change.

Luckily (for Lily of course), James didn't find her and went back to the compartment disappointed.

The train stopped suddenly and everyone went pouring out of the train. Lily went out and someone bumped into her. It was James. Lily felt her stomach do a summersault and ran out with some more thinking material.

**this chapter isn't as good as the other chapters--so if you didn't like it, read the eleventh chapter anyway! because it's a LOT better... And also what comes after that...(chapter thirteen is really good...)**


	2. Amber Kirk

Amber Kirk 

By the time Lily slouched into the Great Hall almost everyone was in and Bertha and Hettie saved her a place next to James and his crew.

Lily, who was sick of her friends trying to push her onto James, sat next to Amber Kirk, a short thin girl with large hazel eyes and reddish brown hair.

"Oh! Hi!" said Amber a little surprised.

"Hi…" said Lily, she knew Amber was surprised and she knew why, Lily was considered popular and Amber was a book worm who didn't talk to a lot of people at once.

While the first years were sorted Lily told Amber what happened at the train. Lily didn't know why she just talked to an almost-stranger, but she felt a sudden connection to Amber.

"Attention students!" Dumbledore said, and the talking faded.

Dumbledore gave his speech and the food appeared.

"Wow! I'm starved!" said Lily and started shoving the food in her mouth very impolitely.

She looked around the table to see if anyone saw her stuffing her face and caught a few people staring at her, one of whom was James. He started stuffing his mouth with food to show Lily he can to, and a contest began—who can shove more food into his or her face?

Lily took a handful of rice and started chewing while James took a piece of turkey and they both chewed and chewed until Lily couldn't eat anymore and James was still chewing (barely) some potatoes.

"Ha!" he said when he finished chewing "I won! I can eat more!"

"Hmmmmmmm" Lily replied, she didn't want to open her mouth because she was afraid she might throw up what she just ate.

"I think she might throw up!" said a scrawny second year and the whole table started laughing. Completely red Lily left the Great Hall without even waiting for dessert (not that she would eat it).

After what seemed like years of trying to sleep she heard noises and saw that Hettie and Bertha were coming in, not wanting to talk to them Lily pretended to sleep and heard their conversation.

"Who does she think she is? And why was she sitting next to that dork Amber Kirk?" Said Bertha, "anyway, it was good Emerald took Lily's seat, she knows how to appreciate boys."

"Emerald is much nicer than Lily!" said Hettie in agreement.

Lily almost fell of her bed when she heard Emerald's name, Emerald was part of the James Potter and Sirius Black fan club! What would happen if they became part of that pathetic club? Would they ever be friends again? Only time could tell because Lily wasn't going to tell them she was sorry, because they owed _her _an apology, she didn't do anything wrong!

Lily heard someone come in and when she saw it was Amber she whispered "psst! Amber! Come here!"

Amber tiptoed over trying not to attract Hettie and Bertha's attention.

"What's wrong?" she said, looking concerned but also frightened that Lily might strangle her (which was quite possible at Lily's mood).

"Urghhhhhhhh! Those girls! They are soooo—urgh!

"I see… how about you go to sleep and we'll talk about it tomorrow when you are less likely to kill someone…"

"Right…" Lily said.

_ 'This is weird' _she thought, _'Why did I suddenly start talking to her like she was my best friend?' _

Lily pondered it a bit longer, and came to the conclusion that maybe Hettie and Bertha changed over the summer, maybe they weren't going to be good friends anymore because of this change. That thought wasn't a pleasant one, but Lily figured that either they would come to their senses or they just weren't enough alike to be friends.

The next morning Lily woke up to find that the dormitory was empty and the common room too. _'Where is every one?'_ she wondered and went down to the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was empty and Lily was getting worried. She ran up to the common room to see what class she had, _'maybe I'm a bit late?'_ she thought. Her first class was potions, luckily the teacher, Professor Slughorn, adored Lily and when she came in the middle of the class he only said "why are you late?" and turned to the class without waiting for an answer to continue explaining about the coming N.E.W.Ts and their importance.

After the class Bertha and Hettie came and said "where were you? James asked about you by the way. He told me to remind you that Saturday you patrol with him"

Lily said a word that made them look at Lily in horror.

"I completely forgot about that!" she said "what am I going to do? A whole night... only with James... in the dark corridors of Hogwarts..."

It started sounding not that bad but Lily wasn't going to admit to _anyone, _not even herself that she was starting to like James.

Over the next few days there were two things on Lily's mind, one was that Lily was afraid to look at James's handsome face, she was afraid she might actually… do something that she would regret later. Lily had no idea why she had this sudden liking of him but she didn't want it to last long. Another thing was that, Hettie and Bertha had almost disappeared, they were ditching classes more often than usual and they were talking to Emerald in a friendlier way than usual. Lily started talking to Amber more often, and she found that Amber wasn't what most people thought she was, she was fun and witty, but she was also too shy for most people to realize. Lily also started talking to Tina, a tall girl with electric blue eyes and dark hair, she wasn't shy at all but for some reason had never had a real conversation with Lily. The only reason she started talking to her was because they bumped into each other at the library. Lily started saying something and they just… talked for almost two hours. _'This is going to be a very different year_' Lily thought one night.

But new friends wasn't as much as a concern as patrolling with James, Lily just didn't know what to do! By the time Saturday came she was dreading patrolling with James and was trying to get her mind off James in very creative ways. First she did homework but she finished it faster than she had planned so she convinced (actually bribed) Amber to jog around the lake with her. After an hour of sitting next to the lake (they were supposed to be jogging but after a few steppes they stopped, sat down, and promised each other they would get into shape later in life) they decided to go to the library.

"Hey!" said Sirius as he ran to Lily and started hugging her like a maniac.

"Wha?-get OFF me Sirius!"

Remus looked over at Amber and blushed while Peter dropped a book and James came over to Lily.

"You remember we patrol tonight right?" he asked with a smug look.

"Yes! Sadly enough I do. And stop looking at me with that ego filled face!"

"Ouch!" said Sirius with the same look James had on his face a moment ago.

Lily stomped over and said "and _why_ did you hug me like that?"

"'Cause if you're going to marry James you're going to be like my sister in law and brothers and sisters hug don't they?"

Lily was getting red and was about to rip him apart when Amber said "OKAY! Lily! We should go right?" And pulled Lily out of the library but not before Lily shouted, "When I see you next time you're dead Sirius!"


	3. Patrolling with James

**I know the beggining isn't very original but by christmas it gets much better. **

Patrolling With James 

Like always in life, when you dread a certain time, time passes faster than usual and before you know it, that time you were dreading comes. Maybe it's life's way of showing us that sooner or later (sooner rather than later) you have to face your problems but Lily didn't care what life was trying to show her. Saturday passed way to fast for Lily (though quite slow for James) and she had no idea what to wear for patrolling.

"Should I wear the robes or Muggle clothes?" she asked Amber (Bertha and Hettie were out with Emerald and Tina was doing homework in the library).

"Wear robes!" said Amber, it was now eight thirty five and Lily had been bothering her since eight o'clock (at nine Lily was to meet James at the common room).

"Are you sure?" she asked for the hundredth time.

"YES!" Amber finally blew up, "I'm trying to do an Arithmancy essay! You look great! Just stop asking me over and over the same question!"

"Fine… I'll wear the robes!" Lily replied, slightly offended.

"So, what should I do my hair?"

"URGH!"

Nine o'clock finally came and Amber was shoving Lily, who was trying to get a last glance at the mirror, towards the door of the dormitory.

"Why are you so concerned about your looks? I got the _impression_ you don't like Potter" Amber asked when Lily was at last going down the stairs.

Since Lily didn't answer Amber went into the dormitory crossing her fingers, hoping Lily won't murder James.

Lily went down the stairs hoping she looked normal (or at least better than the dressy girls who worshipped him, now including Hettie and Bertha).

When she got down the stairs he wasn't there.

"POTTER!" She yelled, hoping he'd hear.

Out of nowhere a bucket of snot green paint fell on her head getting her completely wet and green (which was a shame considering the amount of time she spent getting ready).

"Oops…?" she heard James's voice, "It was supposed to land on somebody else… I'm sorry?" he let out a nervous laugh, dreading Lily's reaction.

"How am I supposed to patrol looking like a huge booger?" she replied loudly enough for everyone in the common room to listen.

"Ummm, how about using a spell?"

"Oh yeah…" she replied, her face and ears getting red "that doesn't mean I'm not going to kill you, you know".

"Yeah… I know".

After a simple cleaning charm and a few yells and head bashing, they were off to patrol.

There was an awkward silence until they heard a noise.

"EEK!" James yelled and jumped into Lily's arms.

The fact that he was tall and muscular (making him heavy) and that Lily wasn't prepared for his jump, caused them both to fall and Lily to yell in pain.

"OUCH! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" she yelled "I DON'T THINK I'LL EVER BREATH LIKE A NORMAL PERSON ANYMORE!"

"Sorry!" the noise surprised me!"

"Sissy" James heard Lily mutter.

They continued walking in silence when the same noise was heard again. This time, Lily jumped onto James. He continued standing though but almost dropped Lily in mutual surprise. He liked the way she felt in his arms but he knew he would have to put her down eventually.

"Put me down!" she said although she liked the way his strong arms held her close to his chest.

"No need to yell!"

When she was down and standing, they both looked at each other and started laughing like maniacs.

After that, the patrolling was more comfortable and they chatted about nothing in particular, while catching students out of bed, until they went back to the common room.

"Good night Potter." Lily said, happy about the way the night went on.

"Good night. Don't let the bed bugs bite, and if they do, bite them back." James was practically floating—Lily didn't murder him and they actually had a civil conversation!

Amber was still awake; anxious to see how patrolling had gone.

"So?" she asked.

"What? Oh…" Lily answered, "It was fine… I'm too tired to talk… if you really want to hear what happened we'll talk tomorrow in charms okay?"

Lily didn't hear an answer because she fell asleep before Amber had a _chance_ to answer.


	4. Dark Wizard at Large

Dark Wizard At Large 

The next day Lily was avoiding the subject and avoiding practically everything in the school. She just sat in bed remembering the night before fondly, until Amber came in after she finished her breakfast.

"Oh… Lily!" Amber said, "Can't you tell me what happened last night? _Lily! _Are you even listening to me? Did you have breakfast?"

"I'm going for breakfast now" Lily replied, "Can you come with me?"

"Sure." Amber said, starting to blush.

"Why are you blushing Amber? Anything I need to know?"

"If you tell me what happened last night, I'll tell you what happened at breakfast."

Lily told her last night's events and Amber was completely shocked.

"He wasn't smug or anything?"

"He was…" Lily didn't know how to reply, "He was fun".

"Coming from you it must mean he was_ very, very_ fun" Amber said, giggling.

"Your turn" said Lily, with a slightly icy voice.

"You noticed how Remus blushes every time he looked at me?" Amber was getting redder, "Well, when I woke up, there was a note on my pillow saying he wants to see me at breakfast."

"And?" Lily was prompting Amber for she stopped speaking, smiling to herself.

"He started talking about how he had liked me for a long time…"

"_And?_"

"He asked me to go to Hogsmead with him"

"Oh" Lily was slightly disappointed, James hadn't asked her out for a while and for some reason she was missing it.

"Can't you be more excited? Anyway… Let's go to breakfast"

On the way to the Great Hall Lily pretended to be excited to make Amber feel better, '_she's excited, I should be a good friend and be excited with her.' _Lily thought.

By the time Lily got to breakfast the Gryffindor table was almost empty. When she sat down, an owl swooped down and gave her the _Daily Prophet_.

"Do I usually get this?" she said, surprised.

"No, but it has a note attached on the front."

Indeed there was a note:

**Dear Lily, **

**I saw an article that worried me a lot and I think you should see it. **

**Please read the first article on the second page. **

**Yours, **

**James **

**p.s. Will you go out with me? **

**p.s.s please read the article, it's very important. **

Lily rolled her eyes and looked at the article. Her eyes widened and she showed Amber the article.

Dark Wizard At Large

There have been reports of many missing and murdered people among wizards and muggles. There have been people using unforgivable spells of which the punishment is a life sentence at Azkaban prison. Over the houses belonging to the victims there is a figure of a skull shown in the picture below. The wizard who is apparently responsible for the chaos is called Voldemort. He is said to be gaining followers and is getting powerful. We advise you to be alert.

Underneath the article there was a picture of a smoky green skull hovering over a destroyed house.

Amber gave Lily the article and they both sat thinking in silence until-

"Hello Lily!" James came in with Sirius and Peter, "Did you get the article? Will you go out with me?"

"Yes and no" she replied, "What does this mean, this article?"

"It means that dark families, like my own, will join this dude and kill muggles and what they call mudbloods and they'll kill Muggles' and mudbloods' friends too" Sirius said darkly.

"Your family believes in that kind of thing?" Amber asked, slightly backing away, her father was a Muggle born.

"Yes!" James replied, "But that doesn't mean he believes in it too!"

Lily, who had been very quiet since Sirius spoke, said before stopping herself-

"That was very sweet of you to give me the article, James."

When she realized she had just complimented James and called him by his first name she looked at him in horror and walked out, probably to the library.

Amber shrugged and went after her.

"I got a compliment from Evens! Do you know what this means?" James yelled, and jumped with joy.

Sirius started saying inappropriate things until James whacked him on the head and pulled him and Peter to the grounds.


	5. Classes

**Thanks a ton to stoneylake for your review!**

**I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!**

Classes 

It was Monday morning and Lily didn't want to be late for Slughorn's class again, unfortunately if she didn't get to the dungeons in five minutes she was going to be just that.

"Lily! Finish breakfast already! We're going to be late!" This was Tina, a tall girl who had dark hair and almond shaped electric blue eyes framed with long dark lashes, a fellow Gryffindor.

"Okay! Just let me have one last bite of the bacon!" Lily chewed a bit and caught up with Tina and Amber who had started walking.

They got to class right on time, a second before the professor walked in.

"Good morning class. Hand over your homework" He said cheerfully, "I believe it was—"

"The strongest love potion ever to be made!" Lily interrupted.

"Very good Lily, I see you came on time today, five points to Gryffindor!"

"What for?" A Slytherin said loudly.

"For knowing the homework assignment!" Slughorn answered, still cheerful, "and you're lucky I'm not going to take point off for questioning my judgment!"

The lesson went on nicely except for the fact that James tried to convince Lily to drink some of the potion,

"I just want to see if it works!"

"You know it will work Prongs! Leave the poor girl alone!" Sirius pulled James pointing his finger to his head, indicating James is a nutter.

Sirius winked at Tina and Amber, and went back to his table with James.

Lily was fairly happy leaving at the end of the class (she was very proud of herself-she earned 30 points altogether for Gryffindor throughout the lesson).

"Miss Evans!" She heard professor Slughorn.

"Yes, professor?"

"Come to the Slug club tonight at—"

"Yes, I know, I got the invitation"

Lily left the dungeons slightly less cheerful.

The rest of the day went on normally, perfectly, until Transfiguration.

The lesson started with Lily earning five points, but then the actual transfiguration started.

"Today we will be turning tables into kittens" Professor McGonagall said, "It is very complicated because of the size differences, whoever manages to do this can change the kittens back to a table."

"What's the spell we use for it?" Peter Pettigrew asked nervously.

"If you would have done your homework you would know" and with that the professor went around the tables to see the progress the students were making.

When her head was turned the other way James tried spelling Snape, a greasy haired hooked nosed Slytherin.

Lily was trying to transfigure her table to a kitten but couldn't because the sizzling noise James' spell was making, ruined her concentration. Lily looked up to find the source of the annoying sound and she saw what James was trying to do.

Amber noticed where Lily's head was turned to and got a bit worried.

"Don't do anything stupid…" she warned.

But Lily, who always lost control when she got angry at James, started yelling across the room before she could gain control.

"Stop it! Now!"

James looked at her while a spell was sent at Snape and shrugged.

Snape's back was bending and gradually he was becoming hunchbacked.

"Potter! What do you think you're doing!" Lily shouted and was getting hoarse.

"Evans! I wouldn't expect this from you." McGonagall interrupted grimly, "Potter, Evans, detention for both of you. Tomorrow you shall get the details. Mr. Snape, you have permission to go to the hospital wing"

Snape limped towards the door slowly, apparently James' spell was making him crippled.

Lily sent a poisonous look at James and finally transfigured her table.

"Very good Evans" the professor said coolly, "you can move on to changing the kitten back to a table."

Feeling less glum, Lily tried transfiguring the kitten.

After classes were over Lily went up to the common room to do homework and snapped at anyone who talked to her.

She couldn't understand why one minute she was almost melting into James' arms and the next yelling at him.

She came up with five possibilities, and being the organized person she was, she wrote them down:

1.The problem is with him; he is immature sometimes, and sometimes he is an almost normal person.

2.The problem is with me, I hate him and love him at the same time.

3. A combination of both.

4. I have a split personality, one angry, one romantic.

5. Potter has a split personality, one I like, and one I don't.

When she looked the little scribbles she saw she wrote the word love. _'I am absolutely not ready for this!'_ she thought.

After settling for number three she crumpled the little piece of parchment and continued with her homework.


	6. Slug Club

Slug Club 

Lily didn't enjoy the Slug club "meetings". They were boring. The best thing about them was the ending, but Lily went anyway. She went because the professor adored her and she didn't want him to run after her to come, she got to meet people too (extremely dull people but people nonetheless).

The time was nine o'clock and Lily was bored out of her mind. Professor Slughorn introduced her to a few extremely dull students and as she tried to make conversation he beamed at her, apparently happy at the connections being made.

By ten o'clock Lily's eyelids were drooping, so she decided to leave earlier than she had planned (she had decided to leave at eleven o'clock originally). Just as she was exiting she heard:

"Miss Evans, have you met Mr. Potter yet?" The professor pulled Lily and left her and James to talk.

"Will you go out with me?" James asked, hope in his eyes.

"No." Lily replied, too tired to yell at him.

"Maybe—"

"No."

"How about—"

"No."

Lily left the room and James was sitting alone, slightly disappointed, even though he knew he didn't really have a chance.

Amber was looking for Remus, He told her to meet him near the room where Slughorn's party was taking place but he wasn't there. _'Maybe he's at the party?' _she thought. Although it was unlikely she decided to look for him there anyway.

Instead of finding Remus, Amber found James, not as cocky as usual.

"What's wrong?" She asked him, Amber wasn't James' friend but she had a feeling she should talk to him.

"Oh…Nothing special, Lily just rejected me again." Although James had said this in a careless way, it was obvious he cared a lot.

"What did you tell her?"

"I just asked her if she wanted to go out with me. Like usual!" James' mood was getting better, he wasn't alone and someone was giving him attention.

"Erm… " Amber wasn't sure what she should say, it was known that Lily hated James, she didn't know why he still tried to get her to go out with him.

"I have an idea!" James jumped up and down, "Can you set us up?"

"What do you mean?" Amber didn't like the sound of this idea.

"You tell her to meet you somewhere and I'll just _happen_ to be there!" James was still jumping up and down.

"Why should I do that?"

"Please!" James looked at her with big hazel eyes.

"If I do, will you stop asking her out?"

"I can't do that!" James was beginning to regret his idea.

"If I set you two up, you'll only be able to ask her out once more OK?"

"Five more times."

"Three"

"Fine. Three. When should we do this?"

"Next time we go to Hogsmead. That's in about two weeks."

"On a Sunday?"

"Yes. OK, but you can ask her only three more times, and no asking her before this, 'date'."

They both went out of the room, James skipping, Amber slouching.

Since Amber gave up on trying to find Remus, she went up to the dormitory.

When Amber got to the dormitory she found a very depressed Lily lying down on her bed.

"Oh, hi Amber" Lily said in a hoarse voice.

"Are you okay?" Amber knew what had happened between Lily and James but she wasn't expecting Lily to be _depressed_ about it.

"You probably noticed how I've been rejecting James right?"

"Kind of hard to miss." Amber said with a smile.

"Well, it's been getting harder and harder for me to reject him." Lily didn't know it until she said it.

"You mean you…" Amber chuckled when she said, "_Like_ him?"

"I think I like thinking of it as… I don't _hate_ him anymore."

"Wow! How often do you patrol with him?"

"Every Saturday night and starting this week, every Tuesday night too." Lily said, getting even more depressed, "What does that have to do with anything anyway?"

"Just wondering…" Amber wasn't 'Just wondering', she thought that if Lily saw him often she might start to like him more, and if she liked him enough by next Hogsmead trip, when Amber sets them up, Lily wouldn't kill Amber as she would if she hated him like she did up until now. '_She might even be grateful!'_ Amber thought a bit too hopefully.

Suddenly there was a tap on the window. It was a barn owl with a letter for Lily.

It said:

_You will serve your detention in two weeks on Monday. _

_Be at my office at _ _eight o'clock__, I will give you your assignment there. _

_Good night, _

_Professor M. McGonagall _

"Weren't you supposed to get the details in the morning?" Amber asked.

"I was _supposed_ to. Well, at least it's after the next Hogsmead trip… That way, at Hogsmead, I'll get something to look forward to!" Lily said cynically. "Good night, I want this horrible day to be over".

"Good night Lily." Amber said, "Tomorrow will probably be better!"

"Of course it'll be better!" Lily said, cynically still, "Because it can't get any worse!"

**People! please review! I have only two reviews! I want to know what you all think! pleeeeeeeeeease!**


	7. Hogsmead

Hogsmead 

In the following week and a half Amber was hoping Lily would go out with James out of her own accord instead of Amber setting them up, but that wasn't going to happen. On Tuesday, when Lily patrolled with James, she came back red faced and angry.

"What happened?" Amber had asked, concerned.

"He didn't come!" Lily had replied angrily and went to sleep, without further explanation.

In Charms one day, Lily had gotten into a huge fight with James about a simple leg lock charm. Lily claimed James had used it towards her, when it really was Sirius who was snickering behind James' back.

In short, they weren't getting along and Amber was in a crisis. _'Should I set them up?'_ she asked herself, _'But then Lily would kill me!' _She argued with herself, _'But I promised James!'_

Not knowing what to do, Amber decided to set them up and get it over with, if Lily got angry Amber would explain what had happened and Lily would understand (hopefully).

It was Sunday morning and Lily woke up to find a note on her pillow.

The note said:

Meet me at the three broomsticks at eleven o'clock.

Amber

Lily was confused; she had planned to go to Hogsmead _together_ with Amber not _after _her. Lily looked at her watch; it was ten thirty, so she decided to get dressed and hurry down to breakfast.

By the time Lily got to the three broomsticks she was five minutes late and she was huffing and puffing. She spotted Amber and said after she caught her breath:

"Hi Amber!"

"Hi" Amber said, dreading the moment Lily would see James was there.

"Amber?" Lily asked, in a warning tone, "Why is _Potter_ here?"

"Oh… Erm…" Amber decided it was time to leave because Lily looked like she was going to explode every second so she said: "I have a headache, I think I'm going to go to the hospital wing." And with that, Amber ran out of the hospital wing.

_'I'm going to _kill _Amber' _Lily thought angrily.

"I think I'm going to go to the hospital wing too!" Lily said uncomfortably, "I have a headache too!" And Lily ran to Hogwarts to go kill Amber.

James didn't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. Lily left without even ordering anything _and_ he was now allowed to ask Lily out only three more times.

Depressed, James ordered a firewhisky and wondered what Lily was going to do to Amber.

While Lily was running to the dormitories she was wondering why Amber had set her up. Amber understood how she felt for James, she wasn't like Bertha or Hettie who now worshipped James and followed him around.

When she got to the dormitories she had decided to ask Amber why she had agreed to set Lily up, _before_ Lily killed her.

"Amber?" She said in a fake sweet voice.

"Oh, hi Lily!" Amber said, Dreading Lily's answer.

"Why did you set me up with Potter?" Lily asked in the same sweet tone she started with.

"Because he asked me nicely?" Amber said quietly.

"WADDUYA MEAN HE ASKED YOU NICELY?" Lily started yelling, finally exploding, "YOU KNOW I DON'T WANT TO GO OUT WITH HIM! ARE YOU CRAZY?"

"I made a deal with hi—"

"YOU MADE A DEAL? WITH _HIM _? ABOUT ME? WHAT ABOUT MY _FEELINGS_?" Lily was turning steadily from red to purple, "DO YOU EVER _THINK_?"

"James can ask you out only three more times now." Amber said in a small voice.

"I DON'T CAR—really?" Lily wanted to thank and kill Amber at the same time, she wasn't sure if she liked when James asked her out or not.

"Yeah. Now you're happy?" Amber said, getting slightly annoyed.

"I have to go to library" Lily said, avoiding the question.

Lily couldn't think clearly in the library because James (who sulked back to the castle after he finished his firewhisky), Sirius and their fan club were there, so she decided to walk around the lake.

Lily knew she only had three more chances to say yes to James. When she realized what she had just thought, she felt like bashing her head against a tree-she was thinking like one of those nutters in the James and Sirius fan club! _'Ah, but the difference is, he actually likes you! Unlike those other girls.'_ A little voice in her head said. That thought made Lily feel somewhat better but not much.

Lily was still walking when she heard someone say:

"Hey! Lily!" Lily swung around to see James.

"Lily? Will you go out with me?"

_'Say yes!'_ she thought

"No! Do you really think I'm _ever_ going to say yes?" she said, not because she wanted to refuse, but because she was so used to yelling at James and refusing that it was like a reflex.

James left, unhappy, he was didn't think she'd agree and he realized he had only two times left to ask her. Looking at his back, Lily sighed and headed towards her dormitory.

"Lily!" She saw someone running towards her, she thought it was James again.

"What?" Lily asked, half sighing.

"What's wrong?" Tina (for it was Tina who came, not James) asked "I just saw James walking into the castle, what did you do?"

Lily sat down with Tina and told her everything, from the beginning. Tina listened through the whole thing, occasionally interrupting, and only at the end she asked:

"You know what you need to do"

"Yes…" Lily moaned.

"I have to go meet someone at Hogsmead so I have one more thing to tell you. Just think, if you _want_ to go out with him, just say yes! For god's sake…" Tina went to Hogsmead muttering about silly lovers.

"'Bye" Lily yelled after her, feeling slightly better.

Lily went to her dormitory slouching, she had detention with James the next day and she wouldn't be able to avoid him like she would have wanted to.


	8. Detention

Detention 

The next day, which was Monday, Lily was hoping time would stop, for today she was going to serve detention with James.

By seven PM she had finished her homework, her supper and yelling at anyone who came to close. She was walking in circles around the dormitory, wondering what would happen. Would James ask her out, or had he given up already? Is she going to say yes or no if he did?

At eight o'clock she was at McGonagall's office, with scary thoughts going through her mind. _'What kind of Detention are we going to get?'_ and_ 'A whole detention only with Jame-_Potter_- what am I going to do the whole time?' _

"It is time you two start acting like grownups, you will need to look through these books" McGonagall showed them a pile of books on her desk, "And you will teach the first years transfiguration instead of your fourth period tomorrow. You have all the information you need in the books and on the list that's next to the books. And you will have to make up the lost time in the class you are to be missing"

McGonagall left the room with what looked like a satisfied smile on her face.

"Ermmmm…" Lily said uncomfortably, "Let's start!" She picked a book up and started getting red.

James, who was smiling (only _slightly_ smugly), took the book she was reading, and said, "You're reading upside down." And he put the book, right side up, back into her hands gently.

Lily, who was surprised at him acting like a-a _normal person_, looked at him in horror.

"I think we should start working" She said embarrassed, "I don't want to stay up all night."

They started working, pouring into books, occasionally asking things like,

"Should we tell them about this in the lesson?" Or, "Don't forget to add this detail, it's important."

Every few pages she read, Lily looked up to see how James looked when he was working. His eyes were moving fast (she assumed he was a fast reader, either that, or he was skipping most of the parts in the book so they could finish faster), he was biting his lip and his hair was hanging down towards the book ever so slightly. When Lily realized she was staring at James, she shook her head, as if shaking out a thought and continued reading a few more pages, until she looked up again.

Every few pages James read, He looked up to watch Lily work, she was making a face, her thinking face, her eyes stopped moving every once in a while, she was probably thinking about what she read, where she should put it in the lesson and how. When James realized he was acting like a lovesick puppy and that Lily might see him staring at her, he started reading again, until he decided to take a break…

The whole night it went on like this until it was about midnight.

"It's really late!" Lily exclaimed as she looked at her watch, "I'm finished writing down the notes, are you?"

"I'm done" he answered, "On the way to the dormitory we'll figure out how to put everything into a lesson OK?"

They put all the books in a pile and left the room, planning their lesson.

By the time they got to the Gryffindor common room they had the lesson all planned and Lily was about to go up to her dormitory when she heard James,

"Lily?" He said.

Lily knew he was going to ask her out, but this time would be different, this time he was asking when they were alone, he wasn't asking for show. This time, Lily decided, she was going to say yes.

"Will you go out with me?" James asked the question he had asked so many times before, the obvious question that always got the obvious answer.

Before she answered, Lily looked around to make sure no one was there, "Yes." Lily said in a decisive, firm voice.

"Please?" James said, expecting a negative answer, "Why do you always say—yes? Did you just say yes?"

Lily giggled a bit before she answered, "Do you want me to change my mind?" she said, smiling.

"No, no, no," James hurried to answer, just in case Lily _did_ change her mind, "So, when do you want to go?"

"The next Hogsmead trip, you'll meet me at the entrance to the common room OK?"

"Yeah… OK!" James answered, dazed. He was still a bit shocked that Lily answered yes.

Lily went up to her dormitory, proud she saying yes, but also wondering what their first date would be like. James hobbled over to the stairs leading to his dormitory, still digesting the idea that he, James Potter, will finally go out with Lily who had rejected him since fourth year.


	9. The date

The Date 

The next couple of weeks James was drifting around the school. He was so happy he had a date with Lily, he didn't even curse Snape anymore.

A few times Sirius actually knocked on James' head saying,

"Is anyone there? Or has your brain gone on vacation?"

Not that knocking on James' head would help, he was in, what Sirius called, Lala Land, until the Hogsmead trip.

The day of the date arrived, James was running around his dormitory, deciding what to wear, (those days, the Hogwarts students wore Muggle clothes to Hogsmead), what to bring, what not to bring, what to say, and so forth. He was driving Sirius nuts, so Sirius decided to take a break from the paranoid, lovesick teen, and go to the common room to find someone to prank. (Remus and Peter went to the library so James wouldn't bother them.)

Lily was trying on all her Muggle clothes, all the hairdos she can think of, and was deciding if to put makeup on or not, (she decided not.). Lily kept on asking Amber and Tina if she looked good, and when they answered, whatever they answered, she changed into another outfit. Amber just sat on her bed, saying yes to what ever Lily asked, (sometimes varying with things like, "You look great!" Or, "I love what you did to your hair!" so Lily won't get suspicious). Tina, who was jumpier and couldn't sit for too long like Amber went down to the common room. When she reached the bottom of the stairs and saw Sirius looking at her with a guilty smile. A huge spider was climbing up her back! Sirius turned around and ran to the grounds, and after she threw the spider aside, Tina ran after him shouting words that shouldn't be mentioned here.

Lily finally settled for an outfit and she went to meet James at the entrance to the common room, a bit late, trying to look as if this was just another date, nothing special.

James came down, his hair as messy as ever, his shirt half on.

"Sorry I'm late!" He said, after wearing his shirt properly.

"That's OK. Let's go" Lily said, "Before all the good spots are taken."

James started walking, not knowing what to do with himself. Lily was walking by his side, half expecting him to hold her hand or to put his arm around her, half ready to kill him if he did.

When they got to Hogsmead James said, "Do you want to go to the three broomsticks?"

"Ermmmm…" Lily wasn't sure if she wanted to be seen with James just yet, "let's go to Hog's head."

"Sure!" Most of James' friends were there, a fact Lily wasn't quite aware of yet.

When they got there Lily sat down and James went to order the drinks (he insisted on paying for her, trying to be a gentleman, though being a gentleman didn't come naturally so when she gave him the money for the drinks he shoved it in her hand and made sure she'd sit down-by pushing her onto the chair- but he _tried_ to be a gentleman which is really what counts).

Five minutes or so later James came back later, his hair slightly more ruffled with Sirius and a scary looking guy behind him.

"'Atta boy Jamesie!" The anonymous man said while ruffling James' hair "You got the girl! She's a pretty sight to my ol' seein' things, to my eyes !"

James laughed, embarrassed, "Ummm that's my friend Tanner" he said, his cheeks reddening.

"Yeah!" said Sirius, "He was getting really sick of Jamesie moping around, drinking firewhisky because of you! So now Jamesie here will stop bothering the poor old drunk!"

"We'll leave you two love birds to do whatever the young _lovers_ do nowadays" Tanner said, winking at James and beaming at Lily, "You're a lucky gal!" He added to Lily.

Lily looked at James, furious, thinking that he had planned to meet Sirius, but seeing that James was looking down at his drink still blushing, cleared her suspicions.

"So" she said, trying to make conversation, " How did you meet this Tanner guy?"

James started telling a hilarious story involving a drunken wizard, a dog and a bunny. After that, conversation was easy and Lily was surprised she could speak to James so easily. Before she knew it, Hog's head became dark and it was late.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "It's really, really late! We should go back!"

On the way back they chatted about everything, and Lily saw that James wasn't as arrogant as she thought he was (he was cocky but not as cocky as she used to think).

Soon enough they got to the common room and it was time to say good bye.

"Ummm…" Lily wasn't sure what to do, "bye!" she said and gave James, who was expecting more, a hug.

"Bye!" James shouted as he watched Lily run up the stairs to her dormitory.

Lily got to her dormitory, thinking about the date as a smile crept to her face. The date was perfect. The smile faded slightly as she continued thinking about what was going to happen next, they weren't going out yet were they? '_Well'_ she thought, _'it's not like someone else is going to want to date with me anyway, it was only Potter'._

Amber suddenly walked in red eyed and unhappy.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked.

"Remus dumped me!" Amber answered, her eyes tearing.

"What?" Tina joined the conversation, frowning with a disbelieving expression upon her face.

"He told me it won't work out!" Amber wailed, "What am I going to do? I really, really liked him!"

"That's OK" Tina said, "He made a mistake! You're not going to lose from this! It's his loss! He's missing out on a GREAT girlfriend! And loads of people have been asking you out lately!"

"Don't give me the 'there are other fish in the sea' lecture!" Amber said, suddenly angry, "I'll get over him!" And with that she stomped of to her bed and cried silently.

Lily shrugged and went to bed, assuming Amber would feel better the next day, it was pointless to try to reason with her right then.


	10. Someone else

Someone else 

On Monday Amber wasn't feeling any better and she was very huffy. When Lily tried to cheer her up she only snapped a rude remark and went away, to cry some more no doubt.

Tina was annoyed at Amber and urged Lily to go with her to the Library for some peace and quiet. Lily had a huge and nasty essay in Arithmancy to do, so she agreed to go.

Tina started reading a light book while Lily started to get started with her essay. Out of no where, a muscular and tall Ravenclaw came and sat next to Lily and Tina. Tina stopped reading but still held the book in front of her face, and the Ravenclaw, David Henshaw, started talking to Lily.

"Hi" He said, slightly uneasy, "I was, erm, wondering if you would like to, umm, be my girlfriend?"

"Errrm" Lily didn't know what to say, she was really surprised—who asks someone out so suddenly? She was going to tell him she would think about it, but what popped out of her very disobedient mouth was a "Yes! Sure! When?"

Tina narrowed her eyes and continued reading her book.

"Really?" David said, not noticing Tina's negative reaction, "Maybe tonight at seven in the requirement room?"

"Tonight I have patrolling to do, but Friday night is fine. OK?" Lily cringed slightly at the word 'patrolling' but to slightly for Tina or David to notice.

"Sure!" David said, and left the room practically flying, which is a very funny sight on a tall man like him.

Lily giggled and went back to her essay, thinking about the date coming up.

"What do you think Tina?" Lily asked, expecting a positive answer.

"I can't believe you said yes!" Tina hissed, "Didn't you go out with James?"

"I did!" Lily said looking down at her essay, "But he didn't say we were, like, a _couple!"_

"Good luck when James finds out!" Tina said, shaking her head.

"What if I like David!" Lily asked angrily, "I don't want to totally ignore boys because I went out on _one _date with _Potter!"_

Lily stormed out of the library, angry because she knew Tina was right.

Since Lily had no one to talk to, she went to the common room and looked out from the window, bored and a bit distraught.

She saw James and his other three friends playing with the snitch like James usually does and a few girls sitting under a tree watching the marauders and giggling, Amber was sitting and reading under a tree, Snape and a few other Slytherins were huddled in a tight circle, probably talking about curses and she saw David walking around with a couple of other seventh year boys.

Lily sighed and started working on her essay again. An hour later, after Lily finally finished the essay, she went down for supper. She had no-one to sit next to, so she ate fast and walked up to the dormitory, yelling at everyone in her mind. She was yelling at Tina for not being understanding, at James for being too understanding, at Amber for getting annoyed at her for no reason and at herself, for being so wrong about everything.

When Lily patrolled with James that night, she didn't say anything but "Hello" at the beginning, and a faint "Bye" when she walked up to her dormitory.

She went to sleep and had a fitful night, and woke early, before it was light outside. Lily couldn't go back to sleep, so she had a crazy idea. Maybe because she was still half asleep or maybe because she was going nuts, she decided to go to James' dormitory and talk to him.

She tiptoed up the stairs to James' dormitory and poked him.

"Huh?" James said groggily, after Lily's finger got tired of poking and she started puncing.

"Shhhh" Lily whispered, "Come down to the common room."

James ruffled his hair (which definitely did _not _need ruffling) and took his glasses, wondering why Lily was waking him up.

"I have something to tell you" she said after she sat down on a chair next to the fire in the common room.

"What is it?" James said, hoping it had to do with romance, and if not, that it wasn't anything bad, "Is something wrong?"

"Well…" Lily was touched by his concern and she started regretting waking him up—she didn't know what she was going to say until she said it, "We're not together right?

James was about to say 'yes we are' but Lily didn't want him to say that and she had a feeling he would, so she hurriedly continued, "Because David Henshaw asked me out and I said yes, is that OK?"

It was definitely _not_ OK but what could James say? 'I forbid you to go out with anyone but me'? She wouldn't listen _and_ she'd think of him as possessive. James wanted to be close to Lily so much he'd even be her friend just to be close to her.

"That's fine!" James said, putting on a false smile, "I had a crush on him last year, you're soooo lucky to go out with him! If you two break up can I go out with him?"

For some reason, only for a second, Lily was angry at James for not caring and for not minding she was going out with another guy. Hadn't he recently been madly in love with her? But she shook her head, as if that would take the thoughts out and laughed, punched him in the arm and they started fighting playfully.

_'See?' _James told himself sadly_ 'She's happy like this, she doesn't need to be with you'. _

Friday night came fast enough and before she knew it, Lily was getting ready for her second date that year.

Amber had decided to talk to Lily that Wednesday but Lily wasn't as lucky as that was with Tina, who ignored Lily that week and if she happened to glance at Lily she put on a disappointed, disgusted and disbelieving face and turned away.

Lily was fixing her hair when Tina came in and saw Lily.

"I can't believe you're going to do this." Tina said looking straight at Lily.

"I told James and he was fine with it!" Lily was in no mood to have her so-called friend tell her how to run her life. She walked out of the room leaving Amber open mouthed and Tina disapproving.

She walked to the requirement room quickly, eager to get as far as possible from her dormitory. Weren't friends there to support you? _'Friends are there to help you make the best decisions'. _A little voice said in her head. Lily shook her head and walked into the requirement room to find David sitting on a couch looking straight ahead. Lily looked to where David's head was turned and saw a movie screen.

"Hi" She said, surprised at his choice of the room.

"Hi!" David said getting up from his chair, putting his arm around Lily's shoulder walking back to the couch.

"I knew that your parents are Muggles so I thought you might like to watch a Muggle movie like some other people do for dates, I wasn't sure the requirement room could do this but it can! There's even a rememete control thing!"

_'That's kind of sweet…'_ Lily thought and didn't bother telling David that it's called a remote control, not rememete control.

They started watching a movie and they didn't talk much except for an occasional whisper in Lily's ear from David about the movie. David still had his arm around Lily but it felt weird, not fluttery lovey dovey weird either. When the movie was over Lily smiled at David, he really was sweet even though she didn't like him _that _way.

"That was a great movie!" Lily said, even though she hadn't really watched it.

"Yeah" David said softly and leaned in to kiss Lily.

Lily felt herself go red and she kissed him back, she didn't want to really, but she didn't want to hurt David's feelings. The kiss was short but Lily realized with horror that she had been imagining that she was—she was, kissing _James!_

"Good Bye!" She said and ran out of the room leaving David yelling after her, "I can walk you to your common room!" But Lily wasn't going to the common room, she was running to the kitchens.

Whenever Lily had dating problems, all throughout her years at Hogwarts, she went to the kitchens and had a huge plate with ice cream.

She told the house elves what she wanted and they gave her vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips, like always.

When Lily was finished her ice cream she felt a lot better and was ready to go back to her dormitory. She thanked the house elves and headed towards the common room.

"Hi" Lily heard someone say.

"What?" She turned around and saw James grinning at her, "Oh, hi! What are you doing out this late?"

"Do you want to give me detention?" He said, grinning still, "I'm just… up. What about you?"

"Oh, I… um.. Had a datewithDavid" She said, hoping James didn't understand what she said.

"How was it?" He said, his grin slightly smaller.

Lily started telling James and the conversed until they reached the common room.

"Good night" Lily said and went up to her dormitory, unaware that James was looking at her sadly until she got up.


	11. Christmas

Christmas 

The weeks passed and Christmas vacation came. Lily still patrolled with James on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Tina decided to talk to Lily a month after her date with David but she was still a bit cool towards Lily, who didn't have any other dates with James but did have two others with David. Amber got over Remus and started dating one of David's friends, Jim Sharpler. Lily was going home to her parents, who had sent her a letter earlier that week and told her they had an announcement to make.

"Bye!" Lily said to James, Tina and Sirius who were staying at Hogwarts.

"Bye!" They all yelled together

"I hope for you sake you bought me a good present!" Sirius yelled.

Lily ran into the train without answering, she had just realized she didn't get Sirius a present!

After Lily, Amber and Remus (Peter was nowhere to be seen) found a compartment to themselves Lily asked,

"Why are Sirius and James staying at Hogwarts? I know why Tina's staying; her parents are abroad but…" Lily left her question unfinished.

"James' parents are working out of the country and Sirius isn't in touch with his family" Remus answered, without any feeling in his words.

It was true; during the past few months there have been lots of articles of deaths and disappearances caused by Voldemort, who was starting to be called he-who-must-not-be-named. As the weeks passed, those hard and depressing articles continued and Lily stopped reading the _Daily Prophet, _Why should she read about dead people she didn't know, but might have known if they continued living?

"Why is Sirius not in touch with his parents?" Amber asked.

"I'm not sure Sirius wants the whole world to know" Remus said, "I don't have the right to tell you, but if you want to know I guess you should ask him when you get back."

The whole way back was silent, everyone was thinking about the times that were going to come inevitably.

When they got to London everyone said their goodbyes and left one by one, all but Lily who was still waiting for her parents to come. By the time everyone left an hour passed since she arrived and, not having anything to do, Lily took a book out of one of her bags and started reading.

Almost three hours passed until Lily heard someone yell,

"Lily! Over here!"

Lily looked at her watch, sighed and headed towards the direction the sound came from.

Lily got into the car and started yelling at her mother, who said she'd pick her up ten minutes after the train came.

"Do you know how irresponsible you are?" Lily yelled at her mother, who had started driving, "Do you know how long I waited? THREE HOURS! I thought maybe you were in a car accident or maybe worse—" Lily could've continued for hours but her mother interrupted,

"Three hours? Petunia said you were arriving twenty minutes ago!"

"How would _she_ know?" Lily asked furiously.

"She opened the letter" Rosalyn said, "Anyway, you missed the dress fittings."

"What dress fittings?" Lily asked, trying to calm down.

"Oh! We were going to tell you when you got home but I'll tell you now." Rosalyn said calmly, being calm and cool wasn't usually one of Rosalyn's best qualities.

"WHAT?" Lily yelled, can't her mother just tell her?

"Remember McDonald? The one Petunia started dating last year? They're getting married next week."

"Next week? Why didn't I know until now?" Lily asked. She didn't care much, if it was about Petunia and her truck sized boyfriend, it didn't matter, but she asked just to be polite.

"Petunia wanted it to be a surprise" Rosalyn replied, "I wanted you to be a bride's maid but she insisted that you won't be so you don't have to wear the bride's maid's dress, but since you _are_ her sister you still need to be fancy. O.K dear?

Lily didn't even want to be at the wedding but she heard the eagerness in her mother's voice and decided to be at the wedding for her mother's sake. Lily knew her mother was getting weaker, and upsetting her would get her to the hospital. Rosalyn had a brain tumor, when the doctors found it there was not much to do, they said they were 'very sorry but she has a year and six months approximately to live'.

"Sure mom." Lily said quietly.

Rosalyn heard Lily's subdued voice, but she didn't know why Lily suddenly felt subdued.

"I'm sure if you talk to her maybe she'll let you be a bride's maid." Rosalyn said, thinking that was the reason Lily was sad.

"Oh, "Lily said, "It's not that, forget it." Lily said, not wanting to upset her mother.

"I know!" Rosalyn said suddenly after a few minutes of silence, "you don't have anyone your age! Am I right?"

"Yeah," Lily answered, almost glad to have her mother find a reason for her "I'll get Amber to come."

"O.K honey," Rosalyn said, "ask Amber to come with a date so you can too."

"What date?" Lily asked. Who told her mother about James? Or David?

"A girl with your looks has to have a boyfriend!" Rosalyn said and winked at Lily.

Lily sighed in relief but then she realized what her mother had just said. She tried not to gag, what's wrong with her mother? Maybe she was spending too much time with Petunia. Lily shoved that thought away, even if her mother _was_ spending time with Petunia she wouldn't _be_ like her, and anyway, Petunia definitely wouldn't say Lily was pretty.

They drove for a while and Lily realized they weren't driving home.

"Mom," Lily said, "Where are we going?"

"To the fittings of course!" Rosalyn said, and while she said that, Rosalyn stopped the car. Lily saw a huge sign that said, _"Dresses" _and under that _"what fits you"_. They walked into the store and Lily saw a few ugly dresses and a few others that weren't that bad.

"I gave your measurements to the store and they made you a dress" Rosalyn said and pointed to a pretty dress that wasn't visible to Lily when she walked in. It was dark green, and it was one of those dresses you can't move with that much.

Lily tried on the dress, saw that it looked okay and thanked her mother.

"You're welcome!" Rosalyn said, hiding a smile.

They drove home and when they got there Lily sighed and ran into her room, collapsing on her bed.

The next day—Christmas—Lily woke up and realized she had slept in her clothes. She had a feeling she had something to be depressed about. It took time for her to remember but by the time she fully woke up she grimly remembered. The wedding. A date. After some thought Lily had decided she would indeed invite a date but she didn't know who.

She rolled out of bed onto a pile of presents. Lily wasn't in the mood to open presents and she decided just to stay in bed and—

"Lily!" It was Rosalyn, "come to eat breakfast!"

Lily got dressed and went to the kitchen, still thinking about who to invite.

When she sat down at the kitchen table her mother started questioning her about small things and telling her about Dad who always goes to work early and comes back late… When Lily noticed the vile looking thing her mother was drinking.

"What's that?" Lily asked, pointing at Rosalyn's cup.

"Oh," Rosalyn replied hurriedly, "It's a medication the doctor is giving me!"

Lily shrugged, opened the fridge and nibbled on a cookie that was in there. What was her mother drinking? Well, she wouldn't be able to find out, and anyway—there were more important things on her mind. David? James? David? James? That was all she was thinking about the while she was nibbling.

"I'm going to my room to unpack" Lily told her mother, trying unsuccessfully to sound cheerful.

Lily started unpacking her things when she remembered James was at Hogwarts and he wouldn't have a way to get to the wedding anyway. Lily started rummaging through her things, trying to find a parchment to write for an invitation for David and Amber. She found a parchment and started writing. After she took out her owl and sent him out she was still depressed. _'Why do you always have to be depressed?'_ she asked herself, _'Can't you be happy for once?' _Lily lay on her bed and realized she would've preffered if James had been able to come. _'There's nothing you can do now, so get a grip of yourself!' _Lily told herself and continued unpacking. After finishing unpacking Lily saw out of the corner of her eye the pile of presents she had neglected. She started opening them, though not enthusiastically. She got, among other things, amazing, and probably expensive, dress robes from Tina (with a note that said_ 'I know I'm a show off… but it's not my fault I'm filthy rich!')_, a chocolate box from David, a heavy book from Amber and a little furry ball from James with a note attached to the ball. It said:

**Lily, **

**I read some articles about the Muggle killings that Voldemort is doing and I know you get the _Daily Prophet _and I thought I'd get you something to cheer you up.**

**James **

It was true, Lily had been reading those horrible articles and she was so horrified and disgusted she decided to put any thought about the articles in the back of her head—she had enough problems to deal with anyway. But as she read the note she remembered all the articles and she sunk into her bed, pulling her covers over her small body. The little furry ball jumped into her hand and started making weird sounds.

"What?" Lily asked the ball and sat up to look at it, before she realized she was talking to a _ball._

"My name is TinfyDin!" The ball squeaked, "And I'm your best friend!"

Lily stared at the ball and noticed a tiny pair of feet, tiny arms and large hazel puppy eyes.

"What?" Lily asked, still unable to believe she was indeed talking to a ball.

"That's what I'm supposed to be" TinfyDin answered shyly in his (or her) squeaky voice, "you could tell me anything and I won't tell anyone, and you could carry me in your pocket everywhere, and… I'll be your best friend!"

Lily figured that if this ball was human it would probably be a five year old. She smiled at the furry ball and cuddled him (she decided it was indeed a him) in her slender hands.


	12. The Wedding

The Wedding 

Lily got a letter from David saying that he'd be happy to be her date in her sister's wedding and he would pick her up at her house and take her to the wedding in a car (his mother worked in the ministry of magic and she got him a car for the night). Lily read the letter and was ashamed at herself for hoping James was the one who had written the letter, _'David is perfectly fine!'_ she tried unsuccessfully to convince herself.

The wedding day came and Lily wasn't nervous or excited, the only emotion she felt was something close to sadness. Lily hadn't been Petunia's friend since she was eleven and started learning in Hogwarts, but before then they had been practically best friends, and Lily was sad that Petunia became who she became. But Lily couldn't change Petunia because she barley exchanged two words with Lily for the past six years and Lily couldn't come and just talk to Petunia as though nothing had happened. Lily told herself to _'get a grip!'_ and she had a determined expression on her face, she would enjoy the wedding! Even though her date wasn't who she wanted him to be, even though depression was gnawing at her soul and even though the bride only made the depression stronger, Lily would make the best of it and enjoy herself. It was a small step, but Lily had to take it, she felt it would lift her spirits and maybe she'd be happy again, like she had been before Voldemort rose and started to torment and destroy Muggles and wizards, and before her life and feelings started to get out of control.

David arrived at her house, beaming, and he took her arm and led her to his car.

"You look amazing" He whispered into her ear.

Lily did indeed look amazing, although she wouldn't admit that to herself. She was wearing the dress her mother picked out for her and a pair of gold earrings with a gold necklace to match, her hair was in an elegant up-do and she had a small amount of makeup on.

"Thanks" Lily said and blushed, "you look good too…"

David said a hurried "Thank you" and opened the door to his car.

Lily almost blushed again; he was being so… so gentleman-ish! _'See!'_ said the small voice in Lily's head, _'He's the perfect man for you!' _Lily still had a part of her brain telling her that James was, but Lily put that aside and stepped into the car gracefully.

They arrived at the reception after a ride of some small talk and Lily was almost sad she had to get out of the car and into her sister's wedding.

"Hello!" Rosalyn said, happier than usual.

Lily was half pulled into the reception room and was basically forced to have small talk with people she didn't know.

_'Where's Amber?' _Lily asked herself while her cheeks started hurting from all her fake smiles.

Suddenly the door to the Reception room shattered and masked figures came in with wands in their hands, yelling curses at the innocent Muggles.

Lily looked around her and she saw people panicking and shrieking. Most of the people ran to find somewhere safe except for the people who were shot by the spells. Lily ducked under a table and felt a hot rush over her head.

_'Where's David?'_ She thought frantically, trying not to panic,_ 'Is that mom?' _

Lily looked over the table to see what was happening and she saw her Muggle mother shooting spells with the masked people who Lily assumed were Death Eaters. Lily stared in shock as her mother started transforming into someone else. A million thoughts ran through Lily's head, was someone disguised as her mother? Yes, that had to be, but whom? And why?

Lily saw the person who was her mother a few seconds ago transform into a woman Lily didn't recognize at all. She didn't have time to ponder this longer because a Death Eater started yelling a curse at her. Lily took her wand out of a bag she brought.

"Stupefy!' Lily yelled. The Death Eater was so surprised that someone at a Muggle wedding would be using a wand he was out cold, because he hadn't had time to yell a counter curse. Lily ducked under the table once more and just waited until… Until she could figure out what was happening.

Death Eaters are attacking her sister's wedding, her mother is not her mother after all, she doesn't know where her mother is, or where David and Amber are. Lily was still a bit confused and maybe more than before, but she was ready to face the Death Eaters once more.

Lily stood and started yelling all the curses and charms she knew towards the Death Eaters. She saw some fall and some float, if Professor Flitwick was there he'd be proud. But Lily couldn't think of that anymore, she wanted to protect the innocent people and she also wanted to find out where her mother is. Lily shot spells and tried running to the person who pretended to be her mother, but she couldn't run too fast because of the dress her mother—or whoever it was—bought her. Lily slit the sides of the dress with a knife she took from the floor and ran towards the Death Eater. She pointed her wand at her and started asking the women questions.

"What's your name?" Lily asked, "And where is my mother?"

"We killed your mother" The women answered, ignoring the first question.

"Why did you kill my mother and then pretend to be her?" Lily asked trying to hide her emotions.

"The Dark Lord said that I should spy on your family" The women answered with an unpleasant smile, "He said there'd be something worth knowing, and he was right, like always. And about your mother—we didn't need her after we got her hair for the Polyjuice potion, so we killed her."

Things were starting to make sense now, her mother's weird behavior and the vile drink she was drinking during Christmas morning. Lily was desperate to revenge her mother's death and started yelling a curse but a spell hit her and everything went black.


	13. Once Defied

_**THANKS TO :**_

_**urges and madeange for reviewing! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! (even though it is a bit depressing--but don't let me give away too much...)**_

Once Defied 

Lily woke at the same spot she lost consciousness. The shrieking that she heard before was gone and she saw no-one around her but she still had an eerie feeling she was not alone. She got up and looked around, ignoring the throbbing pain in her head.

"Avada Kadavr—"

Lily spun around to see someone pointing a wand at her. She ducked behind a pillar and felt a deathly rush of air pass by her left ear. She tried not to lose her consciousness again and got up from behind the pillar to look right at the person who had just tried to kill her. It was a dark figure that looked slightly familiar.

"Voldemort!" She whispered to herself, realizing who she was staring at.

"Yes" The dark figure whispered at her, sneering, "Are you going to beg me for mercy, or try to fight?"

"I don't beg for mercy!" Lily said in a strong voice that didn't feel like her own.

Lily was still in a state of such shock she starting yelling a spell without even realizing what she was doing.

"Impedimenta!" She yelled, hoping it would work.

Voldemort slowed only for a slight second. He stared at Lily with such a horrible expression on his face; Lily almost turned away and ran.

"Crucio!" Voldemort yelled.

Lily fell back and her back hit the floor. She felt as if knives were piercing every inch of her skin but drawing no blood. Lily bit her lip and did not allow herself to yell in pain. She rocked back and forth on the floor and saw numbly, that Voldemort was staring at her with a horrible smile. Lily tasted blood in her mouth and felt the pain reduce and finally go away.

"Did you like that?" He said, "I found it particularly amusing."

Lily felt fury burn in her and all she wanted to do was cause as much pain as she could to Voldemort. She tried to yell an Unforgivable Curse but Voldemort didn't let her finish and started saying something.

"Scared, are you?" He said, "Ready to die?"

Lily wanted to die at that moment but she faced Voldemort and yelled a few of charms at him. He didn't seem to be affected much but it bought Lily some time to try to get help.

"Help!" She yelled and heard her voice echo, "Is there any wizard here?"

Lily was so frustrated she almost forgot Voldemort, but then she heard him whisper a spell behind her.

"Help!" She yelled once more.

No-one answered and Lily turned to face Voldemort once more, only to find that he was gone. She looked around for any other Death Eaters and found none that were conscious. She looked at her surrounding and saw bodies all over the floor in weird angels. She took a deep breath and started looking around the people who were unconscious, or dead. She looked at bodies and tried to help the live, unconscious people as much as she could. She saw no-one familiar until she saw a male body, turned over with his back to her and blood trickling from his head and neck. Lily turned him over and gasped.

"David!" She exclaimed silently.

She slapped his cheek gently to try and wake him up, but he didn't wake up or respond. Lily muttered a spell and water shot out of her wand and onto David's face. He didn't wake up, and the only thing the water did was clear up some of the blood and dirt from his face. Lily looked at his face and saw and saw horror etched in his face and his eyeballs were turned into his head. Lily frantically checked for a pulse and found none. She closed the eyelids over David's no longer seeing eyes and embraced the body, and she felt only stiff, no longer living, muscles. Tears started streaming down her cheeks, but Lily wiped them of with her sleeve hurriedly, she wouldn't allow herself to cry, not now. Lily forced herself to get up and get help. She didn't know how to get to St. Mungos but she assumed that someone from the wizarding world would come at soon, someone had to know about the attack. Help! She yelled in her mind, but no sound came out of her mouth. She looked around and tried to see if there was anyone conscious or at least alive but she couldn't find anyone, the only live people were unconscious and most were close to death. Lily tried to find her father and found that he was unmoving, without any blood, only an expression of horror on his face. Lily looked at him and realized that he was dead, probably 'Avada Kadavra'. She stopped strolling through the bodies, she didn't have the strength—physical or emotional—to continue. Lily slumped against a table and landed on the floor. She looked at the bodies around her and saw Petunia, still breathing, but hurt badly. Lily was thankful she found someone she recognized who was alive. But she couldn't quite comprehend that fact in her numb brain. She closed her eyes and started crying silently, and blackness overcame her once again.

Lily woke again, but this time she was in a white room and she was lying on a bed. She looked around and saw other people, awake and asleep, lying and beds, identical to her own. She assumed she was in St. Mungos.

"Can anyone help me?" She yelled frantically, not able to find David or her father—

"Calm down dear" a gentle voice replied, "What do you need?"

"What day is it?" Lily asked, needing some sense of time.

"Oh!" The voice, coming from a small lady, replied, "You arrived here last night, today's Thursday."

"Do you know where they put the… the corpses?" Lily said, stuttering slightly, unable to believe that the people who had been perfectly alive yesterday were now completely dead.

"I believe the bodies are buried" The small lady said.

Lily didn't even say goodbye!

"Where?" Lily asked, grabbing the lady's robe, angry at her for being so calm.

"You will be notified soon!" The small women answered frantically, "can you let go of me please?"

Lily let go of the Lady and her thin shoulders slumped.

"There's a list of the victims, alive and dead, next to the room" The small women said, "If you get out of the room and turn right you'll see it, but first you have to drink this potion." The women (who Lily assumed was a healer) pointed to a bottle on a table next to Lily's bed. Lily drank it slowly and as she finished, blackness engulfed her for the third time in the past two days.

_**I only have 10 reviews! 10! and 13 chapters! so I'm not updating until I have at LEAST another 5 reviews! And if you don't review who will? I know that you just want to get out of this page without reviewing just like everyone else, but it takes one minute of your time and it means a lot to me!**_


	14. Dreams of Fears

Dreams of Fears 

Lily woke suddenly from her sleep and sat up abruptly. She had a horrible nightmare and was almost glad to be awake.

_"I killed your family and no-one's left for you" Voldemort said, sneering at Lily. _

_"But why?" She started begging. _

_"Because you are a mudblood and you don't deserve to do magic or live at all!" Voldemort replied, towering over the trembling Lily, "And now it's your turn to die." _

_Voldemort pointed his wand at Lily and started yelling a curse. _

_"No!" Lily yelled and tried to disarm the Dark Lord but nothing happened! She couldn't defend herself! She was a Muggle! _

_Suddenly Voldemort changed into Petunia. _

_"You ruined my wedding!" Petunia yelled at Lily, "I'm going to kill you!" _

_Petunia took Lily's wand and started saying a curse when she started fading and turned into Snape. _

_"Mudblood!" He yelled and disappeared. _

_Suddenly David appeared and looked at Lily in the eye. He had a horrible expression on his face, one of anger, spite and a hint of fear. _

_"You let him kill me!" David exclaimed almost silently, "You only saved your own skin and you didn't do anything about anyone else who might have needed help!" _

_Lily felt tears running down her cheeks. _

_"No!" She yelled at David, who turned away, "I didn't know where you were! I-I wanted to save you! I couldn't do anything…" Lily's voice faltered and she started weeping as David walked away as though Lily hadn't spoken at all. _

As Lily remembered her dream she stroked her left cheek to find that it was completely dry. All her worst memories and fears were in that dream and Lily had a strange anger in her. She was sick of being called a 'Mudblood' and having to work extra hard to prove herself. She was sick of Petunia although she felt sorry for her, and hated the fact that Voldemort came and destroyed her sister's wedding. Even though Petunia wasn't worth sympathy, no-one deserved to have their wedding— probably the happiest event of their life—ruined by evil beings. Then there were her fears, and as Lily thought of them her anger was replaced by a tired fear. She hated and feared Voldemort at the same time, and she knew that he couldn't be stopped. He was too powerful! Lily feared the moment she could be facing Voldemort and she wouldn't be able to do anything, and maybe even die begging. Lily hated being helpless, she always had to be in control of her life, that made sense right? To control your own life. But Lily knew it was impossible. And the fact that David, an innocent soul, died when she might've been able to save him made everything worse. It was her fault. Everything. She should've realized that her mother was acting too weird, and she could've come alone, without dragging Amber and David into this. But how could Lily have suspected her mother wasn't really her mother? And how should she have known that inviting David and Amber was dangerous? Lily ignored the last questions that ran through her brain and continued wallowing in her self-pity, convinced that she could've prevented it all. Lily leaned back down on her pillow and fell into a dreamless sleep.

She was woken a few hours later by a healer.

"Drink this." Lily was instructed. She rubbed her eyes, remembering the dream she had had. She looked over to the small table next to her bed and saw a clear chicken soup. She looked at the soup and felt her stomach growl. Only then did she realize how hungry she was. Lily devoured her soup and looked around the room as she did so. Most of the people had visitors and those who didn't were either asleep or so sullen faced, that Lily wasn't sure she would've wanted to talk to them. She realized grimly that she didn't have any visitors either and wondered if she too, looked so sullen faced and sad.

Suddenly the door burst open and someone ran at Lily and gave her a huge hug and then looked her over to see if she had any wounds and if she was okay.

"James!" Lily gasped and jumped out of her bed only to fall painfully on the floor. James picked her up gently and put her back in the white bed.

"Slow down!" He said, obviously trying to sound like his own carefree self. Then his faced turned serious. Lily was surprised at how old James' face looked, she had never seen him that serious and it almost scared her.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his serious expression changing into a concerned look, "I heard about David and your parents."

"What?" Lily asked, and felt tears forming in her eyes, "Only David and my mother were-were murdered." Lily shuddered at the last word.

"You didn't know about your father?" James asked, his eyes wide, "I'm so sorry! You should've found out on your own…"

"It's okay" Lily said, although it wasn't, then she smiled weakly, "at least I heard it from you rather than from Voldemort."

"That's not funny" James said seriously.

"I didn't mean it to be." Lily replied quietly.

James hugged her close and she felt a bit comforted by his strong arms pressing her to his warm chest, protecting her from the grief that started seeping into her heart.

"What did I miss?" Sirius asked as he came into the room, seeing Lily in James' arms on her bed. Then after seeing Lily's swollen red eyes (not from crying—Lily didn't allow herself to cry) and James' serious expression, his regular smile faded from his lips and a thin line replaced it.

"James read the paper and saw a list of the murdered and wounded people" Sirius said quietly, "And Dumbledore granted us special permission to leave Hogwarts and visit you. Tina doesn't know yet," Sirius added after he saw the searching look in Lily's eyes, "Her parents took her abroad with them a day after vacation started."

Lily's tears ceased, there were none left in her anyway, and she sat up straight.

"James and Sirius, thanks so much for coming!" Lily exclaimed almost happily, "Since there really is no-one else who could visit me, you really are the only ones…"

James looked a bit frightened by Lily's almost sarcastic optimism but he said a weak "You're welcome" and stood up.

"Sirius and I are going to stay at my house for another few days." James said "And Dumbledore told us that when you recover you should stay with us until vacation ends."

"Because I can't live there anymore and I have nowhere else to go..." Lily added quietly.

Neither James nor Sirius had a reply for that remark, so they said their goodbyes and left the room, their shoulders slightly hunched.

**I hope you like this chapter... and even if you don't... Review!!!!!!!!!!!**


	15. Alive and Dead

**I know I didn't update for a while but... I had problems with my computer so... PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!!!**

Alive and Dead 

Lily watched them leave and tried getting out of her bed again. She fell, but this time she pulled herself up alone and hobbled out of the room into a wide, white hallway. She walked around; looking for the list of the victims of the attack (she had forgotten the directions the healer had given her). After about fifteen minutes of walking around (Lily took the wrong turn) she found the list and read each name from the long list. Some of the names she recognized were:

_4. Alice Wolf…………………..Dead _

_5. Fred Wolf…………………..Injured _

_23. Amber Kirk………………… Injured _

_30. Donald Evans………………..Dead _

_47. David Henshaw……………Dead _

_53. Harold McDonald...Dead _

_64. George Evans……………..Dead _

_87. Petunia Evans……………Injured _

_98. Jim Sharpler……………..Injured _

Lily's eyes welled up with tears as she read the names of her friends and relatives. Alice and Fred were her grandparents and she saw them often enough to miss Alice more than she could miss her father. Donald was Lily's father's father, but she never saw him more than once every few months, and now she'll never see him at all. Jim was Amber's date, and Lily knew that Amber liked him quite a lot. There were many other names Lily recognized who were other far relatives and some of Petunia's friends. Most of the people on the List were dead and Lily wasn't sure if she felt lucky to be one of the few injured. She took one last glance at the list and then walked away to go find the injured people she knew, but not before she closed her eyes and willed the tears to go away.

Lily walked around the floor and peered into a few rooms until she saw someone she recognized.

"Amber!! Jim!!!" Lily cried out and ran to the beds where her friend and her boyfriend were lying.

"Hi." Amber said weakly, she had a head injury and her right leg and arm were bandaged.

Jim just stared at Lily without uttering a word.

"What happened?" Lily asked, looking at Jim, "I didn't see you two at the reception, how did you get injured?"

"We were running a bit late," Amber started, "And we were about to come in when to Death Eaters yelled a curse and I was tied to one of their wands and Jim was tied to the other. I tried to curse them back but the bindings that tied me to their wands also prevented me from talking or saying a curse or anything! I tried to help Jim, but I couldn't! The Death Eater banged me on the floor and I just c-couldn't do anything!"

Amber started sobbing and Lily looked over at Jim again.

"What did they do to Jim?" Lily asked gently.

"The D-death eater took of his bindings with a-a spell and he started saying these awful curses!" Amber sobbed, "And he said the C-c-crucio curse and Jim begged him to stop." Amber's had to stop because her sobbing became too loud for her to continue. After Amber calmed down a bit, she took a deep rattled breath and continued to speak, "The Death Eater stopped the curse and I thought he was being m-merciful! But he cursed him again! He used the Imperious curse! And he made Jim do horrible things! He made him kill and torture! It was so-so…" Amber stopped again to blow her nose.

"What made him like, like this?" Lily asked Amber, when she saw that Amber didn't continue.

"I don't know, that's why the Healers can't f-fix it" Amber said quietly, "The Death Eater yelled a curse a-and I couldn't distinguish the words and then he j-just left Jim, Lying there… It's my fault! If I heard the curse maybe they would've been able to c-cure him!"

"It's not your fault!" Lily said, and hugged Amber

_If it's anyone' fault it's mine, _Lily thought _I should've realized!!!!! _

_No! _Said a firm voice in Lily's mind, _it's Voldemort! He does these things! It shouldn't be anyone's fault but his! _

Lily's face became oddly serene at that thought, she would try to stop him next time, and that calmed her.

Lily talked and comforted Amber for another short while and then left the room, taking a last glance at Jim, who seemed to be muttering to himself.

Lily continued walking and looking for familiar faces, she saw a few relatives and some of Petunia's snobby friends until she looked into a room and saw Petunia lying on a bed.

Lily walked hesitantly into the room and sat on the end of Petunia's bed cautiously.

"Hi" Lily said, "How are you?

"Oh I'm fine" Petunia said sarcastically.

Lily almost cringed at Petunia's tone; it was as if she was blaming her! But Lily just looked at Petunia and waited for the lecture that Petunia was going to give her.

"If you were a _normal_ person, all this wouldn't have happened!" Petunia started yelling at Lily, "I was in the middle of what was supposed to be the happiest time of my life and you just ruin it!!"

"Excuse me?!" Lily aid, raising her voice gradually, "You think _I_ was responsible for this?! People who are important to me died! Just like _your _people have evil people mine do to!! And I'm on the good side!"

Petunia watched Lily's red face become its normal color as she was thinking of something to reply.

"You could have done something with your all-so-good magic" Petunia said quietly, knowing that Lily was right.

"You know I couldn't have." Lily said, silently wishing that there _was _something she could've done to prevent what had happened.

"Do you know who died?" Petunia asked quietly, "I know that Mc-McDonald died…"

Lily named a few of Petunia's friends and then when she got to their parents names Petunia started sobbing wildly and hugged Lily. Lily wasn't sure what to do, but she needed a hug too, and she hugged Petunia almost as hard as Petunia was hugging her.

"Grandpa Fred is here I think." Lily said, "I was on the way to visiting him, do you want to come?"

Petunia stood up and slowly and started walking towards the door. Lily knew that even though Petunia had just hugged her, it was a moment of weakness, and she still blamed Lily deep in her heart, and their relationship, that was bad already, was heading downwards.

Lily walked out of the room with Petunia and they headed towards the end of the hall silently, opening the doors to the rooms, looking for their grandfather. When they opened the door to the room before last, they saw him lying on a bed, his eyes closed.

They walked in without saying a word and sat down on two chairs that were in the room. They watched his face for a moment.

"Do you think he will ever get up?" It was Petunia who broke the silence.

"I don't know." Lily replied truthfully

The door swung open and a healer came in with trays of food.

The healer started feeding one of the patients, and then realized that he was not alone.

"What are you two doing here?" He asked harshly, "Are you visitors or did you get out of your rooms without permission?"

"We're not supposed to be here." Petunia said, and looked over at the patient that the heeler was feeding.

"We'll go back to our beds," Lily said, "but can you just tell us if our grandfather is going to s-stay like this or will h-he get bet-better?"

"He will most likely wake up in a few months, once the spells that keep him alive will actually seep in, but it's not clear." The healer answered, a little less harsh, "but you should go into your rooms, _now._"

Lily and Petunia walked out of the room and just before they walked out, Petunia craned her long neck and looked back. Lily, who was about to start crying, closed her eyes and fought back her tears, she picked up her chin and walked down the hall until she found her room.

She looked back to see if Petunia was still with her and saw no-one, so she walked into her room, crawled into bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

Lily dreamt about twisted people in white beds, about dead people haunting her for the rest of her life, and about Voldemort. Every time the dream got to scary, she woke, to find herself sweaty and a healer would come and give her a potion or something to eat, and then she would fall asleep again. The truth was, she didn't want to wake up completely, and every time she started gripping reality she closed her eyes and dreamt. Lily was dreaming another dream about Voldemort. He was yelling a curse at her and she felt a poking on her shoulder, was it the curse? Or was it…?

**REVIEEEEEW!!!! If you'll review I'll update sooner because I'll have a better reason to update! It's only 2 seconds of your time!!!!**


	16. Hettie and Bertha

****

**Thanks SOOOOOOOOOOOO much for everyone who reviewed!!!!! Some of you asked if there will be more romantic chaps... So... the chapter after this one is a romantic one... some of you also asked if I could make the chapters less depressing and if people could stop dying... so first of all-Voldemort is killing people and Lily lost her parents--I would be depressed for a while... And also... James' parents have to die too... If it was up to me everyone would be alive but...**

Hettie and Bertha 

Lily opened her eyes and rubbed her aching head. She started rubbing her stiff legs and looked up to see who was sitting on her bed.

"Um… Hi." Bertha said.

"The healer told us to give this to you when you wake up, and we really have to talk, so we woke you up..." Hettie said, and handed Lily a potion. Lily drank it and felt the pain in her legs reduce, and her headache disappear.

"Thanks." Lily said, not really hearing what Hettie had just told her, and than she realized who was sitting on her bed, "What are you _doing _here????"

"We heard… Uh… read in the _Daily Prophet_ about the attack on the wedding," Hettie shrugged as she talked, "and we saw that the name of the family attacked was your family name so we assumed…" Hettie's voice faded, and after a long stare at Lily she leaned in and gave Lily a tight hug.

"We missed you!" She sobbed. Bertha hugged Hettie and looked at Lily through the corner of her eye. Then, after a long, uncomfortable silence they all started talking at the same time.

"I'm so sorr—"

"Are you—?"

"Tell us wha—"

All three girls stopped trying to unsuccessfully communicate and, as if planned, Bertha started talking.

"We hadn't talked for a while," She said firmly, "And I think we have a lot to talk about." Lily and Hettie both nodded, and Bertha continued.

"I don't know what happened to us but…" Bertha stopped, searching for words, "I think we all changed last summer and I guess our interests changed and let's just say we moved to different… Paths. Hettie and I didn't, and still don't, understand why you don't talk to us, or hang out with us anymore, I mean, we also don't try to talk to you! But you started talking to Amber and I guess we didn't count anymore! But for some reason it didn't matter. We didn't know how much we really missed you until we realized that you might be gone forever!"

Lily was about to just forgive Bertha and Hettie, but she had something she had to say, something she had to get off her chest.

"I missed you too!" Lily began, "But I didn't just stop talking to you for no reason! The way you treated my… Uh… _Relationship_ with James," All three girls laughed at Lily's choice of words, slightly uneasily, "I don't think you understood why I didn't just… Date him! When _I_ think of a boyfriend, or even just a friend, I don't want someone who's just good looking! I'm also looking for something else! I'm not sure what, maybe maturity, or… I'm not sure. But James definatly didn't have what I was looking for! And the way you practically pushed me onto him… I don't know… And when you sat down next to him and his friends at the table it was just too much. I always knew that you thought that I should date James since fourth or fifth year, but you understood why I_ didn't_. You don't anymore. I don't think we understand each other at all." Lily thought of what she had just said. She hadn't planned to say something like that, and only after she heard her voice replaying in her mind did she realize herself why they had grown apart.

Hettie looked at Lily and then at Bertha. There was an uncomfortable silence, the three of them not knowing how to react. Then Hettie spread her arms and pulled Lily and Bertha into a hug, and Bertha's eyes watered.

They talked for a while, and Lily told Hettie and Bertha, after they had asked, what happened at the wedding, and how. They talked as if they were old friends, like they were a year ago, but as they left the room; Lily knew that they wouldn't be friends like before. Maybe now they would exchange a friendly glance in the common room, but they probably won't talk like they just had, ever again.

Lily sank her head in the pillow when a healer walked in.

"Evans!" He read out of a chart loudly, "Evans, Lily?"

Lily pretended to sleep; she wasn't in the mood for potions, even if they _did _ease her pain. The healer looked around the room, to see if anyone answered, and when he didn't, he whispered loudly to someone who was out of the room.

"If she isn't answering I assume she is asleep." The healer said, "You can come in, but don't wake her up, because sleep is very necessary for the healing."

Lily thanked the healer in her mind and was almost asleep, when a figure sat down next to her bed and took her hand. Lily was too asleep to see who it was, but the thought that someone had come, just to watch over her, was comforting. And Lily fell into a peaceful sleep.

**I'm sorry this chapter is so short but I just had to write this chapter because I had to tie some loose ends. Anyway---REVIEW!!!**


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